ORANGE Liberia Launches 4G LTE Sites in Grand Bassa

Hundreds of citizens, county officials, dignitaries and local and international guests joined the Orange Liberia team to launch its new 4G LTE sites in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, on Tuesday, March 13.

Buchanan is one of the ten cities where the telecommunications giant has launched outside of Monrovia since May 2017, according to a press release yesterday.

Speaking at the event, the CEO of Orange Liberia, Mr. Mamadou Coulibaly, said the launching of 4G LTE in Buchanan was part of a long-term strategy of Orange, which had been announced by OMEA CEO Mr. Bruno Mettling, during the branding of Orange in Liberia in 2017.

He revealed that Orange has invested more than US$40 million infrastructure and network expansion in Liberia since 2016 and referred to it as “the largest investment in the Liberian telecommunications sector in recent times.”

The Orange network expansion focuses heavily on reaching vast parts of rural Liberia, which do not have access to telecommunications network.

In addition, the company (which was the first to launch 4G LTE sites outside of Monrovia) is making strides to ensure that every county will have access to high-speed internet in the near future. As Orange has already rolled out its high-speed internet network to ten cities outside of Monrovia, it is setting the company apart as the largest provider of high-speed internet in Liberia.

Mr. Coulibably said: “Because we are a company that does what it says, since June 2017 we successively opened new 4G LTE networks in Gbarnga, Kakata, Cuttington, Buchanan; Ganta, Voinjama, Foya, and Harper, Zwedru and Yekepa.”

The expansion marked a 43% increase in overall network sites, since Orange acquired Cellcom two years ago.

Mr. Coulibaly noted that in the next three years the company would invest in building another 100 sites across the country. “We are doing this because we believe in the Liberian people and we have a vision that the innovative programs and services we are rolling out, including mobile money, will have a significant impact on jumpstarting certain parts of the economy,” said Coulibaly.

He added: “Liberians have already experienced some of our great innovations in 2017 and I can safely say that the best is yet to come.”

On behalf of the people of Grand Bassa, Senators Jonathan Lambort Kaipay and Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence both thanked Orange for continuing to remain what they referred to as a ‘critical partner in progress to the Bassa people.’

Sen. Kaipay recalled “Orange has constructed at least five 4G LTE, since my ascendancy as Senator. We want to thank Orange for partnering with us to ensure the voices of our people are heard. Connecting our people is a key priority for us as connectivity is often the first step to business development.”

He maintained that the engagement of Orange would help the county reach higher heights, admonishing the management of Orange to: “remain with us, be with us so that together, we can make Grand Bassa County a model county.”

Liberianobserver.com is the online version of its print edition, the Daily Observer newspaper, a product of the Liberian Observer Corporation. The Daily Observer publishes a wide range of content including politics, business, sports and entertainment on and about Liberia. Follow us on social media for all the latest news and analysis.